Peterborough City Council’s Vision For Tree Planting

Species Diversity

There is a marked difference in the distribution of species between specimen trees and those within groups. Analysis of the specimen tree data lists 269 different species and cultivars drawn from 76 generations. No single species exceeds 8% of the total. The top ten species from the database are shown here

Group - Species Mix

The species mix in groups is less varied. The pie chart shows the estimated species mix.

It can be seen that 21% of the tree groups are from the genus Acer (the maples) and 18.5% from the genus Fraxinus (ash). As almost 40% of the woodland tree stock comes from just two genera it is therefore considered vulnerable to pests and diseases. 

The benefits provided by Peterborough’s council owned tree stock were assessed using i-Tree Eco v6 the aim being to quantify and value air pollution removal, carbon storage, carbon sequestration and reductions in surface water runoff delivered by the trees. Amenity value of the tree stock was calculated using the Capital Asset Value for Amenity Trees (CAVAT. The key findings are presented in the table below for the whole of Peterborough and were also calculated for each Ward. The full detailed report can be viewed within  The value of trees in Peterborough report .

The  City Council’s Trees and Woodlands Strategy  was approved by full Council on 17 October 2018 and forms part of the Council’s major policy framework.

The strategy has been drafted taking account of the following key principles:

• fulfilling our statutory duties (including health and safety)
• being as clear as possible where the council will and will not provide service
• recognition of the vital importance of trees and woodland to our communities, quality of life and ecosystems services
• our financial constraint

In order to further expand our ability to undertake more tree planting Peterborough City Council continue to bid to a range of external funding partners to help meet the financial costs with achieving our revised ambitious tree planting target. To-date external funding has helped finance over 3000 trees additional trees to be planted and established on Council owned land. 

This fungal disease has caused extensive tree losses in continental Europe, for example killing over 90% of the ash population in Sweden. It was first found in the UK in 2012 and has rapidly spread from east to west across the country.

Ash forms 7.7% of the street and park trees in the City and, an estimated, 18.5% of the tree groups. The level of infection is currently low in the city but expected to rise significantly in the next few years.

The image below on the left shows typical crown dieback with tufts of regrowth and the image on the right displays dead leaves and diamond shape stem lesions which are symptomatic of the disease

Please complete the Street Tree Planting Scheme  online form 

Please complete the Woodland Tree Planting Scheme  online form 

Peterborough City Council and Peterborough Environment City Trust (PECT) are working in partnership to expand tree planting across the city as part of the  Forest For Peterborough Project . We would love you to become involved.